ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict softball team picked up its first MIAC sweep Wednesday afternoon when it beat Concordia 4-1 and 8-4 at the CSB softball fields in St. Joseph, Minn.
 
In the first game of the day, it was the Cobbers (14-8, 1-3) who got on the board first with an RBI double in the third inning. Concordia held a 1-0 lead until the bottom of the fifth when Courtney Wissbaum walked and came around to score on an RBI single by Megan Toninato.
 
The Blazers broke the game open in the sixth when Madison Mikolich reached on an error then, after two outs, Samantha Sakihara was hit by a pitch, Nicole Nelson walked, Mikolich scored on a wild pitch and Sakihara and Nelson both scored when Wissbaum reached on an error to put CSB up 4-1.
 
CSB (15-9, 3-3) finished the first game with four hits, including a double from Emilie Antony. Kiela DeVlaeminck threw all seven innings and picked up the win – her seventh of the year. She gave up a single run off four hits and struck out nine batters.
 
Saint Benedict got on the board early in the second game thanks to a two-run double by Sara Wennerstrand and an RBI single from Karlee Pfaff in the first inning. Concordia got one run back in the second, but CSB added two more runs on a solo homer by Nelson and an RBI groundout by Toninato to make it 5-1.
 
Concordia scored three runs in the top of the third to make it 5-4, but Kate Deming hit a two-run double in the bottom of the inning to help CSB score three runs to push their lead back to four.
 
CSB finished with 10 hits in the second game. Deming went 3-for-4 with two RBIs, Antony and Pfaff each had two hits and Wennerstrand finished with a pair of RBIs. Cassie Meyer earned the win after giving up four runs on 10 hits with six strikeouts. She threw all seven innings.
 
Saint Benedict continues its busy week Thursday, April 14, when it travels to Minneapolis to take on Augsburg in a 3:30 p.m. doubleheader.